Highlands Ranch: A Service Proposal

Highlands Ranch: A Service Plan Proposal Highlighting Older Adults

The United States is in the midst of a major demographic shift. People are living longer which means that the population of older adults, those sixty years and over, is growing. As public libraries struggle to remain relevant in today’s society and respond to the changing needs of older adults, it is important to become more than just a place to check out a book. Libraries need to become destination points and engagement centers which act as anchors to their communities and encourage patrons to seek out their services (McDonald, 2011). It is necessary to study the older adult population within the library service area in order to find out what the needs of users and non-users

By 2030 it is estimated that one in four residents of Douglas County will be age 60 or older – approximately 24% of the County’s population” (para. 1). The Douglas County Library District (DCL) services all of Douglas County with seven branches placed within different communities. This service plan is directed at the Highlands Ranch branch library. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2014), Highlands Ranch has a population of 101,350 thousand people, with 12.3% of that population being 60 years of age or older. Given this information it is imperative that the library provide innovative services to this growing demographic. According to the library district’s website they have four major goals for 2016. The first two goals make reference to the fact that they are hoping to build bright futures through creative learning for all ages and that they are committed to building a premium, personal library experience that exceeds patron expectations (Douglas County Libraries, 2015). In light of the goals, set forth by the library district, it seems only fitting that the Highlands Ranch branch library create services for older adults that will foster life-long learning and provide innovative programming that will exceed the routine, stale library services that are generally geared toward older adults

There does not seem to be any active outreach to the older adult community as the library seems content to let that demographic figure out what the library offers on their own. The district does not employ anyone who is specifically in charge of adult programming, outreach, and services. This is not unusual, Piper et al. (2009) state that “many public libraries in the United States do not have older adult specialists, or services and programs geared to older adults” (p. 107). The older adult population of Highlands Ranch is significant, and would benefit from tailored library services. So, the question becomes: How can the Highlands Ranch library be more proactive in meeting the needs of the older adult population within the